Avatar: Reawakening
by whorchata
Summary: A girl with no memory and no voice, Pagan has no idea what it is she must do with her life. But, as luck would have it, Fate and the Gods seem to have already come up with that part for her... All she has to do is figure it out, then find the Avatar.


_Once, long ago, the island that would one day become the Fire Nation was covered in great forests. Here, spirits roamed free as Nature incarnate. But as innovation took root, the people of the Fire Nation destroyed many of the lush forests that had once covered the land. One by one, the lesser Nature Spirits were eradicated and banished, leaving the forests unguarded and vulnerable._

_The enormous trees were replaced with fire, stone and metals. Time passed, wars raged, and the lesser Spirits called for their God. But they too late, for the enemy had gotten to it first. Sealing it within a human girl, the Fire Sages bound the deity deep within the Earth, leaving it to die, and then to vanish. _

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><p>The sounds of running water and the croaking of frogs filled my mind. I couldn't quite place who I was, or what I was doing sleeping outdoors. My mind was cloudy, and when I finally opened my eyes, I recognized nothing that was around me. I sat up slowly, my eyes traveling slowly back and forth... Back and forth over my surroundings.<p>

I was in a swamp.

The light was dim and calming, and I felt strangely at peace, though I couldn't tell myself why. The mossy ground beneath my hands was soothing, and something told me that I needed to move. Standing up slowly, I continued to gaze around at the swamp, and although I felt peaceful, I also felt watched.

I took a step forwards, and regretted it instantly- The moment that I moved my foot I felt myself begin to sink into the squelching mud below. I made a face, peering downwards to look at me feet which, to my dismay, were being sucked still further into the mud. After clambering and slipping through the mud for nearly half an hour, I finally managed to get myself to some more solid ground, although it still had a made a faint noises wherever I stepped.

I sat down on a nearby stump, taking time to regain my composure and contemplate my sudden and unexplained appearance in the middle of the swamp. Glancing at my elbows, I realized that I was covered nearly head to toe in swamp mud.

When looking straight down I could see my reflection in a pool of water; Forest green eyes set in a thin face stared back at me. My caramel colored hair, which I only now realized reached all the way to my hips, now had a considerable amount of mud and twigs lodged in it. My skin was tan, almost so dark that it made my light hair almost look out of place. Almost.

A dark brown dress, much darker than my skin, covered only the bare minimum of skin. When I moved my head, I could hear the noise of hollow wood colliding, and I realized that I was wearing some sort of tribal, bamboo earring.

Apparently I was also kind of vain, because as I continued to be abnormally engaged with my own reflection in the water, I didn't even realize what was happening around me. A sudden warmth distracted me from the unfamiliar reflection in the water, and I turned around a little too quickly.

_Who's there?_

My eyes widened- I was certain I had tried to yell just then. Why hadn't it worked? I tried again but, same as before, no noise escaped my throat. My fingers reached for my neck as I stroked it wildly, as if my petting it would somehow return my lost speech. What the hell was wrong with me- Why couldn't I talk? My frantic thinking was interrupted as a soft thudding noise broke through the silence.

The noise was steady but repetitive. I glanced around swiftly, allowing my eyes to search for the source of the noise as I continued to grasp my neck carefully. Just as I was about to dismiss the noise as my imagination, a second sound of breathing caused my own to stop all together... It was coming from behind me.

I turned slowly; I didn't want to turn around at all but, really, what choice did I have? Gulping audibly, I shut my eyes and allowed my body to shift on the stump on which I was perched. I waited a full three seconds, counting as slowly as possible inside of my head while squeezing my eyes tighter together.

_I'm dead... I'm dying, I'm dead... I'm so going to die when I open my eyes._

Taking what I figured would be my last breath of air, I let my eyes fall open to finally stare the unknown assailant dead in the eyes. Much to my surprise, they weren't... Scary, threatening, or fear-enducing. Try none of the above. Quite the opposite, they were calm and innocent-looking. The even amber color seemed almost familiar, though I really couldn't place it at that moment. It was when I realized to what the eyes belonged that things really started to take a turn for the weird.

_"Pagan."_

In front of me crouched an enormous deer. At least, I was pretty sure that it was a deer. But normal deer had hooves, and this one had what vaguely resembled paws. The animal's fur was as black as pitch, which I knew was strange for a deer. My eyes followed its antlers, which were thin and spindly, but seemed to stretch on for an eternity; Eventually, I lost track of where the antlers ended and the trees began. My gaze once again fell on the animal's fur, and I noticed that small white dots adorned it in some places- The whole image looked oddly familiar... Like the night sky and the stars.

_"Pagan..."_ it said again, though this time I could feel its hot breath on my face. I leaned away from its face, squeezing my eyes shut almost fearfully before holding completely still. Either I was dead, or if I wasn't, it was going to confuse me to death. What the hell was a Pagan?

_What is this thing?_ I thought frantically. I cracked one of my eyes open slowly, and the enormous deer in front of me blinked curiously.

_"But you should already know that." _My eyes darted back and forth, looking for the person that the deer was answering; No one else was there. Could it read my mind? Just to be sure, I focussed on my thoughts once more.

_Am I dead?_

At this, it let out a low rumble that I guessed was its way of laughing. Whether it was laughing at the apparent absurdity of my question, or it was chuckling evilly because it knew that I really was dead, only time would tell.

_"It's time to wake up."_ I raised an eyebrow and leaned forward a bit, my nose nearly touching the deer's. Pursing my lips, I began to seriously doubt the legitimacy of this vision I was having. Because that was just it- It had to be a vision. The deer was silent for a moment, and I started to feel myself slipping. The animal blinked, and when I looked down at my arms, I found them being consumed by vines. I let out a strangled gasp, pulling at the plants in a desperate attempt to free my arms.

_Get off, get off, get off!_ I cried within my head, but it was no good. The plants were eating me alive, and the deer was controlling the plants. _Get these things off of me! PLEASE!_ I wailed in my head as loudly as I could, but the deer simply widened its eyes.

_"Wake up, Pagan."_

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><p>My eyes fluttered open, revealing the forgotten world around me. I took in a deep breath of air, waiting patiently for any memories to return to me. Nothing happened. Eager to get a move on and figure things out, I pushed myself up right as quickly as possible, only to experience an immense feeling of pain the very next second. Tears stung the corners of my eyes, and I allowed my body to go limp as I flopped back onto the bed on which I was laying. I took a deep, calming breath, allowing my overactive nerves to cool down as the pain left my body.<p>

"Oh!" The sudden exclamation sent my senses into overdrive. Risking the pain that I knew such a movement would cause, I shot straight up, only to collapse a second later. A loud gasp soon ensued, and I suddenly felt someone placing their palms on my forehead. "Don't move so much, child, it isn't good for you..." Once again I lay still, allowing the stranger to look me over before I did anything else. "When I found you by the swamps, you were in horrible condition... You've healed up nicely."

_Where am I?_ I asked. Only, I didn't, because absolutely no noise came out of my mouth. I opened my eyes, meeting the serene green eyes of a young woman, who smiled kindly as I stared up at her frantically.

"Yes, it made things a little more complicated for me when I discovered you were mute," she murmured, and I felt my heart nearly stop. I was mute? I couldn't talk? Everything in my life was going down hill much too fast for my liking. I watched carefully as she placed a damp cloth over a long cut on my forearm. "You couldn't tell me who you were, or where you'd come from... Luckily you had that tattoo, so I at least knew your name. " I cast her a questioning look, and she placed her fingertips over my collarbone. "Here... It says 'Pagan'. I figured it was your name."

I was still completely thrown by the Omnipotent Deer vision that I had experienced in the swamp...Well, in my head. I couldn't really be sure what had happened. All I knew was that the deer had called me Pagan, and since the creature seemed to know an awful lot, and the woman in front of me seemed to agree with it, I was going to trust it on this one.

"You're awfully cut up you know," the woman continued, and I simply shrugged. It's not like I could remember, so what difference did it make? "You aren't part of some sort of cult, are you?" she asked, and I made a face. Somehow, I doubted that. "Only asking. These marks aren't random. I've never seen anything like it." With that she stood up, exiting the room through a door on the right.

Finally managing to sit up, I took in my surroundings slowly. I lay in a bed in the center of a small room. Through the windows, I could see sandy streets, which were lined with vendors and stands as far as I could see. Despite not knowing anything about who I was, I still seemed to know a few things about the world around me, and I was fairly certain that I was somewhere in the Earth Kingdom.

I glanced down and removed the damp cloth from my arm. Beneath it was a long, intricate scar; A single line that ran from my wrist to my elbow, with smaller lines branching out from it. The woman had been absolutely right- These marks weren't random. Ignoring the various pains that shot through my body, I dragged myself across the room to where a wooden dresser stood. Yanking open the first drawer, I pulled out the first things that I lay my hands on.

Removing my own clothes was a tedious job- They were stiff, as if they had gotten wet and then dried too slowly, and they were caked in blood. I finally slipped on the new top, which was a form fitting shirt. It only had one shoulder, which was long sleeved, ending halfway down the ribcage, and was a dark terra cotta color. Black stretch pants now covered my legs, and matching black flats now adorned my feet. Congratulating myself on a job well done, I wrapped a wide black scarf around my neck as I whistled quietly to myself.

When I turned around, my own figure stared back at me from a mirror beside the bed. I blinked, and so did mirror-me, and I followed my own movement carefully as I put up my hair in a high ponytail. From where I stood, I could barely make out the multiple piercings that adorned my ears, which gave me a look that was almost Tribal. My legs were long, and the exposed flesh of my stomach was flat, though my hips stuck out in a manner that suggested that I hadn't eaten in quite some time. As if to back up this theory, my stomach chose this time to give a hearty grumble.

I cast my eyes towards the door through which the woman had left, waiting patiently for any noises that might have indicated that she would return. When all remained silent, I moved carefully towards the windows and once again ignored the searing pains as I ducked out of the house.

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><p>"Moon Peaches, get your Moon Peaches!" I jumped as the outburst met my eardrums, and I hissed through my teeth in pain. The man in the stand beside me gave me a questioning look, though he didn't bother to ask if I was okay or if I was lost or if I knew who I was or any of numerous questions that he could have asked. After his attention was diverted elsewhere, I decided to take a closer look at what he was selling.<p>

To my right were several baskets of Moon Peaches, their off pink color oddly pleasing to the eye. Right beside them were bushels of apples, and as I stared back and forth between the two fruits, I began to feel that the man had so many that he would hardly miss two or three little pieces of fruit. I slid my fingers carefully over the smooth surface of the fruit, all the while ignoring the strange looks that I was getting from a band of small children directly across the street who were busy steeling apples from a barrel. I glowered in their direction as if to say: _You tell, I tell._ They quickly went back to minding their own damn business.

After having successfully stolen two Moon Peaches, I continued my walk down the sandy streets, which were lined with people selling anything from food to an array of dazzling, but entirely unnecessary, trinkets. I cast my eyes upwards, shielding my sensitive eyes from the harsh sun with my hand as I gaze across the town. It was bigger than I had expected, though I could still clearly see the gates that marked the border where the town met the harsh Earth Kingdom desert.

Taking a large bite out of one of the peaches, I turned my attention once more to the many pressing problems at hand. Let me break it down for you:

1) I had no idea who I was.

2) I had no idea _where_ I was.

3) I had no transportation besides my legs.

4) Less than an hour ago, I had experienced some sort of telepathic conversation with a giant deer-thing.

Oh, and how could I have forgotten?

5) I couldn't talk.

Strangely enough, the whole deer-vision seemed to be the least of my worries, and that wasn't exactly a good thing. The only things that I knew about myself was my appearance, I was mute, and _maybe_ my name was Pagan. But that was only a maybe, considering my name had been told to my by a fictitious, not to mention wild, swamp deer. However, the fact that I had the word tattooed in plain sight on my chest did provide adequate proof that it could actually be my real name.

"Get those things outta here, they're making the people feel uneasy." I stopped at the corner of one of the bamboo-constructed buildings, peering around the front wall to see the source of the voice. In the middle of the next street stood two men, one dressed on green and the other in blue. The man in blue stood next to a long train of different cages, each supported by enormous wooden wheels. As I drew closer, my eyes were met with an array of strange animals, some of which I recognized, and others that I didn't.

"I'll be out of here as soon as you give me the food that I need," the man dressed in blue continued, which only seemed to heat up the building argument. I drew nearer to the cage at the very end of the line, and a low growl reached my ears. My breath hitched in my throat, and my fingertips grazed the bars to the cage. The growling stopped, and I felt something cold make contact with my fingers.

I gasped as I drew level with the creature in the cage; An enormous white beast, its squinty black eyes staring down at me from where it stood. I had heard of these things, but never before had I seen one in person. It was a Polar Bear Dog. Its long, floppy ears twitched as I moved closer, and I could feel its hot breath graze across my cheeks.

_Hello..._

I tried to speak again, but all that came out was air and an occasional rasping sound. The animal, however, seemed to understand, much like the pseudo deer in the swamps had. It bowed its head, sticking its nose out of its cage to touch mine. I sneezed.

The beast blinked, as if saying 'What the hell was that for'. I had to give it points for patience, because if some girl had just come up and sneezed in _my_ face, I'd have probably beaten her up. My eyes shifted from left to right, and so far as I could tell, the arguing men had taken their bickering elsewhere. I reached towards my ears, removing one of the metal pins that was lodged decoratively within my flesh. The Polar Bear Dog eyed me questioningly, watching closely as I moved the pin towards the lock of its cage.

I jiggled the pin carefully inside of the padlock, which was so old I wouldn't have argued if someone had told me it was rusted closed. Biting my lip in concentration, I took the lock securely in my other hand, shoving the pin farther into it in an attempt to unlock it. I was interrupted, however, by a sudden crash to my left; Both the Polar Bear Dog and I turned our heads in unison, searching out the source of the sudden racket.

"Anyone with any information on the Avatar is required, by law, to report it to Fire Nation officials," A man dressed in heavy looking red armor was talking sternly to a woman in a doorway. A young girl cowered behind her leg as the man passed a flier to the frightened mother. "There's no reward- But you should keep in mind that anybody found withholding information will be killed. Is that clear?"

The Polar Bear Dog and I exchanged glances. The word Avatar seemed to strike a chord somewhere in my memory. No doubt this... Avatar... Was important. Extremely important, if withholding information on it was punishable by death. I shrugged up at the creature before continuing to pick the lock- I was interrupted again, however, by the man dressed in red.

"What the hell do you think you're doing, kid?" he muttered darkly. I opened my mouth to make some witty retort before I remembered that 1) I couldn't talk and 2) I was sadly outnumbered, a fact which was brought to my attention when I noticed at least ten more soldiers making their way down the street. Before I knew what was happening, the man grabbed me by the collar and shoved me up against the cage; The Polar Bear Dog roared loudly, shaking the cage behind me, but the man remained unfazed.

"Think it'd be funny to let that thing loose on us or something?" he asked, shaking me as he spoke. Now that he mentioned it, that was a pretty good idea, but I couldn't really do anything about it at present. "You better watch yourself girl, befor-" The man stopped speaking as a kicked him roughly in the gut, causing him to release my neck and go flying backwards. A sudden burst of flame came speeding towards me, which I barely avoided by pulling myself onto the top of the cage.

Avoiding the flame, however, seemed to work to my advantage in more ways than one. Not only did I not get fried to a crisp, but the avoided flame instead hit what had been directly behind me. And that was the lock to the Polar Bear Dog's cage. An ear splitting roar escaped the animals throat, and I nearly lost my balance as he shook the cage, busting the now unlocked door off of its hinges with his enormous front legs.

From where I crouched on top of the cage, I could see the red clad men surrounding me. I sighed heavily, not really sure how I was going to get out of this mess alive, but figuring that I should go ahead and try anyways. Grabbing hold of the bars of the cage, I flipped myself over backwards, hitting the man standing closest roughly on the head with my feet in the process.

"Captain!" several of the men yelled before sending balls of deadly fire in my direction.

_Shit!_ I thought frantically, narrowly dodging one at a time. I turned around, suddenly coming face to face with one of my assailants. He smirked, lifting his hands in preparation to strike. Without thinking, I ducked, choosing to use my head instead of my hands and head-butting the man in the stomach. Letting out a strangled groan of pain, the man went stumbling backwards, leaving me just enough time to slip away into a nearby back street.

The commanding cries of the soldiers followed me as I stealthily navigated the alleys of the town, rounding corners and dodging confused street vendors all the while. Finally pausing to take a break, I felt that I had finally lost them. Finally catching my breath, I began to feel the much appreciated affects of adrenaline wear off, and the pain returned once again. But I seemed to have evaded danger, for now. My cheery thoughts were brought to a screeching halt, however, when I was suddenly aware of another presence close by.

I gulped loudly, thoughts of red clad warriors and giant panthers whirling through my mind. Accepting whatever Fate had decided to throw my way this time, I turned all the way around- Only to meet a very white, very fluffy face.

I blinked.

The Polar Bear Dog blinked.

Then we both looked unbelievable freaked out and backed away from each other a considerable amount. We were both still for a minute or so, taking in each other's appearances nervously. After a while, the Polar Bear Dog seemed to recognize me, and began to lumber over to where I was still standing stock still. He sniffed loudly, taking in my scent before pressing his big wet nose against my cheek.

_Ew!_ I thought loudly, making a face as he continued to slobber all over me. I backed away as quickly as possible, using my new scarf to wipe the Polar-slobber off of my cheeks. Aside from the drooling thing, the creature was one of the cuter things I'd seen in my lifetime. His squinty black eyes stared down at me as he continued drooling, and I finally decided that this was one of those take it or leave it situations- I figured I should take it.

"I saw it run down this way!" We both jumped, and the Polar Bear Dog looked frantically behind it as the group of red armored soldiers rounded the corner. I gasped, tearing my eyes away from the approaching soldiers and sprinting towards the creature in front of me. Grabbing a fistful of his pure white hair, I heaved myself onto his back. The soldiers were closing in, and I almost stopped breathing as a huge ball of fire went racing past me.

_Go... Mush!... Run! _I thought frantically, but the Polar Bear Dog didn't need to be told twice. No sooner had the second ball of fire narrowly missed his ear, he was out of there. He rounded the corner, nearly throwing me from his back in the process, before sprinting full tilt in the direction of the entrance of the town. I wish I could say we made a graceful, very cool exit from the trouble infested town- But truth be told, I'm pretty sure we crushed about half of the stands in the street, not to mention the ones burned up by our pursuers.

But it seemed that, for once, luck was on my side. I leaned down, closer to the Polar Bear Dog's neck, as we rounded another corner. He continued tearing down the street, his long pink tongue lolling out of his mouth as his breath quickened. I looked ahead, realizing that he had finally found the entrance to the little town. Glancing back at the red clad soldiers, I wished more than anything that I'd had a voice so that I could taunt them the way people do when they elude capture; But I settled for simply bursting through the gates of the town on the back of an enormous white beast, and whistling along with him as he growled into the open air before taking off through the desert at break neck speed.

At that moment, it didn't really matter to me whether or not I could remember who I was. For now, I was free, flying through the desert on the back of an enormous white Polar Bear Dog; But something told me my life would only stay this simple for so long.

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><p><strong>Inspired a lot by Princess Mononoke, which I do not own, and will eventually entangle with the seasons of AtLA. I own nothing but Pagan!<strong>

**Alright. I've started, deleted, and restarted this story a lot recently. I've had some trouble getting it right- But I hope I have this time! Please review, criticism welcome!**


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